Botswana
The role of TNCs in the extractive industry of Botswana
Investment Policy Review - Botswana
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been the driving force in moving the economy of Botswana from that of a least developed country status to one of a middle-income country. The country aims to continue this rapid growth while at the same time diversifying its economy. This paper reveals how the government plans to develop national business development through citizen empowerment, while at the same continuing to seize opportunities to attract FDI. The following topics are covered in this report: Botswana's track record in attracting FDI, the investment framework for FDI in Botswana, the impact of FDI on Botswana's national development objectives, and proposed recommendations and conclusions with regard to FDI policy in that country.
Assessment of Development Results - Botswana
The UNDP Assessment of Development Results (ADR) in Botswana covers the period from 2003 to 2008 and includes the period of the current United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and UNDP country programme. It focuses on effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability, which refer to the assessment of development results and programme-level analysis, as well as on relevance, responsiveness, equity and partnerships, which relate to strategic positioning and analysis at a strategic level. The UN contribution to the development of Botswana has a long history. The current priority areas of action are: achieving the MDGs and reducing human poverty; energy and environment for sustainable development; and responding to HIV/AIDS.
UNCTAD ICT Policy Review and National E-commerce Strategy for Botswana
With the rapid uptake of information and communications technologies (ICTs), growing digitalization in both developed and developing countries, and the catalytic role of new technological innovations in business and consumer markets, global value chains, and international trade, e-commerce has been increasingly transforming the global economy, affecting economic growth, competitiveness and socio-economic development. The accelerated expansion of e-commerce has been further fueled by the Covid-19 crisis. In addition to seeking to leverage ICTs and digital technologies to support Covid-19 recovery, the Government of Botswana has long recognized ICTs as enablers of national economic and social development and as a tool for strengthening the country’s competitiveness. Committed to creating an environment conducive to supporting e-commerce, Botswana has in the past decades invested in and strengthened its ICT sector, established key legal and regulatory measures, and now stands positioned to expand its e-commerce sector. At the request of Botswana’s Ministry of Investment, Trade, and Industry (MITI), UNCTAD launched an UNCTAD ICT Policy Review (ICTPR) Strategy to assist Botswana in developing its national e-commerce strategy in March 2019. The national e-commerce strategy set out in this publication aims to leverage Botswana’s full potential for e-commerce, to boost economic growth and socio-economic gains, diversify the economy, raise Botswana’s competitiveness in the global economy, and support its recovery from the pandemic crisis. The strategy is the result of technical assistance work delivered by UNCTAD supported by the SADC Trade Related Facility (TRF Fund) funded by the European Union.
Botswana Science, Technology, and Innovation Foresight
This report was prepared as part of the Botswana Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Policy review process and should be read in conjunction with the Botswana STI Policy Review. It documents the STI Foresight exercise designed and undertaken by UNCTAD in 2022 to explore the future role of science, technology and innovation and STI policy in Botswana and to stimulate a process aimed at creating a consensus on the future priorities for national investments in R&D, technology and innovation. It responds to a key finding of UNCTAD's Botswana STI Policy Review that the lack of clearly defined national priorities contributes to fragmentation in the national system of innovation in Botswana and undermines its innovation performance and capacity for technology upgrading. These in turn constrain the ability of Botswana to use STI for sustainable development and reach the sustainable development goals. The STI foresight exercise aimed to provide a future dimension to strategic planning for STI in the country. It sought to involve the STI community of policymakers and practitioners in Botswana in a discussion about what the STI future could be for Botswana and what a preferred STI future is for the country. The exercise and the report are based on an understanding that foresight can help to shape the future of Botswana by looking forward into the future to see what could be possible through selective policy interventions undertaken in the present starting from today.
Botswana Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Review
The report presents UNCTAD's assessment of the national innovation system of Botswana including indicators of STI capacity, key actors, STI policy frameworks, use of new technologies for transformation, and the application of STI across different sectors and issue areas related to the sustainable development goals. It identifies key weaknesses and proposes policy recommendations to address those weaknesses.
No. 32826. Netherlands and Botswana
Agreement on mutual administrative assistance in the exchange of information in securities matters. Signed at The Hague on 11 December 1989